Thursday, 19 March 2015

Housing

Finding the right home is one of the main issues that constituents come to ask my help on and I think there are three key things we need to do.

Firstly, we need to build additional homes, especially for young families who need more room and for older people looking to downsize. If we build more one bedroom apartments then we also free up larger homes for families. I have always argued that we should build on brownfield sites before greenfield sites and projects like the old Assembly Rooms at Trevu Road next to Camborne train station are the model to follow.

Secondly, we need to be flexible about the way we allocate social housing. When people's circumstances change and perhaps they are earning more money or their children have flown the nest, we need to encourage them to move up the housing ladder and make way for young families in need of a larger home.

Finally, we need to help those who aspire to own their own home. Schemes like Help to Buy have been successful helping hundreds of local families by underwriting their mortgage so that they can get a 95 percent mortgage and buy their first home. I want to see more of this help.